Digital marketing has transformed the way of operating a business enterprise radically. While many people believe that digital marketing involves building and maintaining an online presence, it’s not completely true. In this era of the Internet, organisations have to stay active all the time, as any piece of information can spread like wildfire.
In today’s time, every business, irrespective of its type or size, has resorted to digital or online marketing. Dental practices in Australia are not an exception. Professionals in varied branches of dentistry promote their practice online for achieving the desired level of success.
So, dental marketing Australia has become a field of expertise and interest. Individuals and agencies strive hard to understand the nitty-gritty of digital marketing for dentists. They apply their knowledge for enabling dental practices to attract more patients and grow.
However, just like many other avenues of business promotion, digital marketing can also lead to more harm than good in some instances. These instances are the ones wherein the concerned executives handling digital marketing activities commit any mistake.
Therefore, you should equip yourself with the knowledge of various mistakes that people usually make while conducting digital marketing techniques for dental clinics and hospitals. We have specified some of these mistakes below so that you take an informed decision.
Steer Clear of These Mistakes in Dental Digital Marketing
- Ineffective Website
Search engine optimisation (SEO), which is a critical part of digital marketing, is aimed at making the website of a business rank on the top of search engine result pages (SERPs). If prospective patients find your website while looking for the treatments that you offer, they are likely to visit it for reading more about you.
But if your site is not proper, i.e., if it lacks on any of the fronts, namely, functionality, appearance, and speed, the visitors will immediately switch to the next top-ranking site. So, before putting efforts in improving the visibility of your website, you should ensure that it meets the essential parameters.
- Random Landing Pages
When visitors search for businesses by using the Internet, they expect quick solutions that best suit their needs, goals, and budget. Therefore, your website should have dedicated landing pages for every important keyword. For dental practices, dental problems and dental treatments are relevant keywords.
You should focus on keyword mapping, i.e., selecting the right keywords for every service page as well as other pages of the website. From time to time, you should include the latest terms in your list of keywords. If a person is looking for ‘dental veneers’ and reaches the ‘cosmetic dentistry’ page, they are bound to get upset.
- Ignoring Local Search
Your dental facility must be located in a suburb, town, or a metropolitan area. You need to highlight the location of your dental clinic or hospital in the content of your website. Prospective patients or their relatives should be able to find out your location within a few seconds of visiting your website.
Moreover, when patients conduct an online search, they include the name of the region, area, or locality in their search queries to get the appropriate results. Unless people have to visit a dental facility located far away due to the complexity of the treatment or any other reason, they prefer visiting the dentist located nearby them.
- Neglecting Email Marketing
Many dental practitioners form an opinion that the email marketing tool is for businesses like restaurants and airlines. This approach is not correct, as every business can be benefitted from email marketing. The whole purpose behind sending emails is to establish and strengthen the relationship with customers.
Email marketing gives you an opportunity to personalise communication. You can send emails to patients for fulfilling numerous objectives. Information regarding the latest treatment procedures, newly bought equipment, promotional offers, and much more can be shared through emails.
- Overlooking Social Media
The powerful weapon of social media can take your dental practice to new heights. People spend a great deal of time on social media platforms. From sharing vacation pictures to seeking advice, a lot of activities are performed by people on social media.
Therefore, you should not overlook social media marketing. You can share posts on a variety of topics, ranging from oral health maintenance to festival greetings. The strategy for using social media varies from platform to platform. You should select suitable platforms for your dental clinic or dental hospital.
- Not Asking for Referrals
A lot of dental practitioners think that asking for referrals can create a negative impression in the minds of their patients. But this thought is not right as most of the people like to get recommendations from their friends and family whenever they need health-related services.
When you ask your satisfied patients to suggest your dental practice to the people they know, there are significant chances that they will do so. You can design a referral policy that will benefit both existing and new patients. Referrals can be asked personally as well as through website and social media channels.
- Expecting Speedy Results
While a banner placed on the side of the street or pathway near your dental facility can draw the attention of the targeted audience immediately, digital marketing strategies take time to show results. You cannot expect a tremendous increase in your number of patients or popularity.
Many dentists start expecting outcome in the first few days or weeks of promoting their dental facility online. You need to understand that the majority of dentists are utilising digital marketing. As competition is high, your digital assets, i.e., website and social media channels, will take a while to become noticeable.
Final Words
Digital marketing involves various methods to reach the targeted audience for growing sales and profits. These methods can be classified into paid and non-paid promotional tools. Search engine optimisation and social media optimisation are non-paid tools, whereas, Google Ads and Facebook Ads are paid tools. All the tools have immense potential to help you achieve your business goals.